Istanbul – Irfan Argun, Chair of the Istanbul-based Committee of Solidarity between Caucasia-Abkhazia, cited some Western diplomatic source in his claim that Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili was trying to receive the green light from the United States (US) to attack Abkhazia prior to the presidential elections in May.
"There are signs that a move towards war against Abkhazia might come from Georgia, just as a similar one came from it in 19992, after Georgia has faced the fact that the Western countries’ recognition of Kosovo’s declaration of unilateral independence without consulting the United Nations (UN) sets a precedent for Abkhazia, a country that has maintained its expectations of being recognized as "an independent and sovereign state" for the last 17 years now. There is now concern that the administration of Georgia, panicked by the increasing likelihood of Abkhazia’s being recognized as fully independent, may launch a new war against Abkhazia prior to Georgia’s presidential elections in May."
"We see that the international community takes all precautions to help Kosovo maintain its existence because it views Kosovo’s independence, despite all its consequent controversial resonance in the international arena, as an employment of the right of small communities to self-determination. While some new countries survived the dissolution of an old bloc at a hard time of globalization and blossomed with the clear approval as well as support of the international community, some other new countries were deprived of their right to self-determination. The latter countries still struggle to maintain their existence as well as to get recognized worldwide. The two of them are Abkhazia and Ossetia."
"It is evident how far Abkhazia has progressed in its struggle for independence and existence despite all obstructions it has faced visibly and all the damage it has sustained from Georgia’s attacks. Able to sustain its determination to keep its ‘de facto’ independence and sovereignty in spite of its being subjected to constant attacks, constant threats and constant attempts of abuse, Abkhazia still considers a possible treaty of nonaggression with Georgia as a step further in the direction of peace. However, the call from Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, who is acting as a mediator between the sides, was rejected aloud."
"There is word that Georgia, in constant avoidance of such a treaty of nonaggression, prepares to present a fait accompli, while it also expects to get approval from its supporters to launch a new attack. We, the Caucasian Diaspora, want to call the attention of the whole world to these developments in order not to be presented with a new ‘fait accompli,’ the price of which will be high for both sides to pay."
"It should NOW be known that the fire would burn both those who set it and those who only watched it burn after fires broke out across the entire Caucasus. We all pay the price for ambition and mindlessness as increasingly available in the globalizing world… Neither the Caucasus nor the Caucasian Diaspora can bear a new attack craze through Abkhazia. For that reason, we are once again calling out to the international community: Just as you mobilized for Kosovo, do something and stop the Caucasus from catching fire." (Agency Caucasus)
